Toyota Motor retained its crown as the world’s top selling automaker for the fourth consecutive year after posting record annual sales of 11.2 million vehicles in 2023, though its chairman apologised on Tuesday for scandals at three group companies. The Japanese automaker reported a 7.2% jump in global group sales last year, including those at small-car maker Daihatsu and truck unit Hino Motors, which have been rocked by wrongdoing over inspections and testing procedures for cars and engines. Chairman Akio Toyoda vowed to improve compliance at his member firms, saying that in the past he had been too busy with the company’s turnaround from a 2009-2010 recall crisis to keep tabs on problems at the affiliates.
The tally also included sales of Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand and its pickup trucks, which are produced at the Daihatsu factory in northeast Japan. Sales of the Toyota Camry sedan, its best-selling model globally, rose 8.6% to 2.36 million vehicles. The company’s other top models, including the Tacoma pickup and the RAV4 crossover, each saw double-digit percentage sales gains.
The results were a boon for Toyota, which was hit by supply bottlenecks that hampered production and impacted sales of passenger cars in late 2021. Those issues have eased as production has regained momentum, but the problems threaten to damage Toyota’s reputation for quality and safety and could slow growth for the world’s largest carmaker.
Toyota’s woes have come on the heels of a probe of diesel engine testing at Toyota Industries Corp., which supplies engines to Daihatsu and Hino. The investigation found that the company had rigged tests for power and torque output, which prompted the transport ministry to halt shipments of some diesel vehicles at home and abroad. The company has since apologised for the problem, which is being investigated by a third-party panel.
Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, said he was sorry that the misconduct scandals had caused “troubling and worrying” for customers. He pledged to improve oversight of Toyota’s member firms and boost their awareness about the importance of compliance. He also vowed to increase communication between his firm and each of the companies that make up the Toyota group.
TOKYO — Toyota Motor retained its title as the world’s top-selling automaker for a fourth straight year after posting record annual sales of about 11.2 million vehicles in 2023, extending its lead over Volkswagen AG despite a blip last summer when supply bottlenecks weighed on vehicle production. The Japanese automaker’s figures exclude deliveries made by truck subsidiary Daihatsu and truck unit Hino.
The tally also includes sales of Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand, which accounts for one-third of the company’s worldwide sales, and its pickup trucks, which account for a quarter. Toyota’s parent-only vehicles, which include the Toyota and Lexus brands, accounted for another a fifth of its worldwide sales in 2023. Sales of hybrids and battery electric vehicles accounted for less than a tenth of the total.
